Rivers State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili, has revoked a multi-million contract for the construction of an access road to the Rivers State Polytechnic at Bori in Khana Local Government Area of the state.
The governor announced the termination of the job, which was said to have been awarded to one of the lawmakers in the state, at the 13th convocation of the Rivers State Polytechnic on Saturday.
Odili, who frowned on the delay by the contractor to execute the job, said his administration could not continue to wait for the lawmaker to do the job.
Although he did not mention the affected lawmaker, Odili directed that immediate steps should be taken to award the job to a more competent contractor to ensure that the polytechnic community did not continue to suffer.
The governor also ordered the immediate release of N200m for the construction of the road and another N55m to the authorities of the polytechnic to improve its facilities.
He also announced the approval of two new air-conditioned buses for the institution, saying that the gestures were meant to complement the effort of the management of the school.
The governor noted with delight, the steps so far taken by the management to move the institution forward, pointing out that no institution in the state had undertaken the number of projects the polytechnic had done in the last eight years.
Odili noted that the performance of the management had justified the appointment of the Rector and other management officers by his administration.
The Rector, Dr. Barineme Fakae, lauded the state governor for his interest in the institution and and financial support he had given to it in the past years.
Fakae, however, called on the state government to convert the institution to a degree-awarding institution to enable it meet its target of producing high quality technical manpower for the nation.
The rector said the call had become imperative in view of he scrapping of the Higher National Diploma by the Federal Government.